Ship 7170
by highschoolstoryteller
Summary: SCI-FI AU: When Earth becomes uninhabitable, the United States send their citizens into the stars on ships that will hopefully take them to another planet. When Ship 7170 nears an Earth-like planet, what will happen? Will our HSS MCs be okay?
1. Chapter 1

7170 APPROACHING R-23649

Nishan sighs. In his 16 years of life, he had heard many announcements like this one. The announcement meant that the ship was nearing an inhabitable planet. When he was younger, he got excited whenever he heard it. But when he was 9, his mother got drafted  
to explore the planet RW-3332. The crew weren't to know that RW-3332 had poisonous rain dropping down almost constantly in its tropical climate. Since then, any announcement made him feel miserable. He stands up, and walks to his compartment.

Sakura hears the announcement too. Awake in the dark underbelly of the ship, she's working on fixing a water generator. It's a very important job, seeing as if it doesn't get fixed about 1000 people will become severely dehydrated in a week. Her mechanic  
squad, consisting of herself, her parents, her aunt and two cousins work to fix these generators. It's the "family business" her grandfather jokes. Her whole family work as mechanics, and the family are one of ten mechanic specialty families. Sakura's  
uncle married a doctor however, and so she had 4 cousins who were a mix of mechanic and doctor. Of course, in 7170 you are free to work wherever you choose, but many work with their families.

"Did you hear that?" Sakura asks her Dad.

"Yeah. That's interesting." Her father seems unimpressed.

"Maybe we can work on biomechanics."

Her father laughs. "You'd need to be more of a scientist."

The cogs in Sakura's brain start turning. Hmm. Perhaps she could work on those if the planet was inhabitable.

Mia Warren was asleep when the announcement was made. No doubt when she woke up her brother Max would say how he'd be the first one to walk on the new planet. He'd be celebrated. Mia wouldn't mind too much, because she isa gardener in Greenhouse  
8 and an inhabitable planet means she can work all around her. She also works part time as a soldier, just in case there are "aliens". It means she won't get drafted full time, and that she can work on her garden.

Julian hears it while working out late at night. He's a full time soldier, and he's here so his family (Momma, Poppa, and Hope) can be kept safe from anything. He's with his best friend Max, and together they're working on boxing.

"That's my time. My time, you hear?" Max pants.

"Go for it man. You're a great soldier. You'll be great," Julian pants back. As the #1 (Max) and #4 (Julian) ranked soldiers, they give everyone else a run for their money. Of course, money isn't a thing anymore.

"You know Payton? She's going to be all over me when I get back from the planet." Max grins.

"Man, you sure like her." Julian rolls his eyes and sends a punch Max's way.

"Heck yeah I do." Max dodges it and tries to hit Julian who was definitely expecting it and jumps to the side.

"I think you could have any girl you wanted even now."

"Well, Payton doesn't like me!"

"Yeah, because you smell bad." Max landed one on Julian, causing them both to laugh.

Truth is, Payton doeslike Max but she's playing hard to get. Julian asked her a few years ago, and Payton told him. Her crush on him hasn't faded, nor has his for her.

Payton's watching from behind a treadmill. She swoons whenever Max lands a punch and when he wipes the sweat off his chest, she wishes she could be his towel. Payton's a chemist, and she works on creating food that can regenerate itself, just in case  
there's a problem with the generators. She works with her best friend Kallie, who interestingly enough is also a writer. Of course, everyone has to do an important job but hers provides entertainment so she needs to do chemistry on the side.

"Payton's sweet though. Really sweet." Max talking about her makesher grin. What a cool guy.

Kallie's asleep, but when she wakes up she'll get an earful from Payton about how hot Max is and the announcement. Kallie, as usual, will be jealous of the fact Payton prefers watching Max to talking with her. But as Kallie doesn't have many other friends,  
Payton is all she has.

Ace is a cockpit novice, and is learning how to fly the ship in case of emergency. He also has the keys to an emergency getaway pod, seeing as he knows how to fly it. As he wakes up, he hears the announcement and mentally prepares to ask his captain about  
it.

Shane is going to bed when he hears the announcement. As a messenger with a huge crush on his partner, he'll hear plenty of goss about it later. From his very gay partner, and from the messages sent.

Wes is Shane's partner, who's only a messenger because he has no other skills. Secretly he works out, but that's about it. Wes is quite lazy, and so he's asleep when the announcement happens. But he'll get woken up in the morning by his roommate Autumn,  
and she'll tell him about it.

Autumn is a food harvester, so she goes around the food generators and gets the food from them. It's never very good, but she hears a lot from the other harvesters. She's working when the announcement happens, so she asks her partner Ellie what it means.

"We might be going ontoa planet!" Ellie gleefully squeals, giving Autumn a big hug.

"Nice!" Autumn gives Ellie a hug too, and they both get back to work. Ellie is also a food harvester, but she is a part time soldier too. Ellie's quite sweet too.

Chase is asleep during the announcement, but as his Dad is the captain he'll know all about it when he wakes up for textiles work. Chase makes clothes, and also works on making dye too from the dye generators. It's a good job for him.

Talia and Tariq are both training when the announcement is made. They're also pilots like Ace, but they're working on the pods. They switch between maintenance and piloting, so they're a great asset, and a great team.

"Sounds interesting," Talia comments.

"Yeah, maybe we can learn to fly as commercial pilots!" Tariq looks excited.

"You read too many novels," Talia frowns. "Anyway, which one's the altitude control?"

Tariq sighs, then laughs. "On the left here." He guides her hand to it, and she smiles at him.

"Thanks bro."

"Big bro to you."

"I definitely came out first!" Tariq and Talia are twins, but they're not really competitive. More like a team of two bodies, and almost one mind.

Hannah and Logan, riflemen (woman in Hannah's case). Asleep in their shared compartment at the time of the announcement. Neither of them are aware of it, and they'll probably find out in a few days when there's an update.

Koh is up, doing some workouts. She's the #2 soldier on the ship, and the only reason she's in it is because she needs her grandma to get the medication she needs. She hears the announcement, and rolls her eyes. Like Nishan, she lost a parent to a planet.  
Both, actually. But she was cool with it because her mother was always doing her "physics" and her dad wasn't really at home much. They were like strangers to her. Kohisn't really a science or planet person. Saying that could get her sent to  
cleaning work, but she wasn't really into that. She doesknow Nishan though, because he works with her grandma as a nurse.

Who knows what the new planet will bring?


	2. Chapter 2

6 hours after the announcement, Ace was having spotting lessons in the a fleeting moment, Ace thought he saw a person on the planet they were heading to. Then he tried to spot them again through the telescope in the cockpitand  
it didn't work. Now, he's trying to get the telescope working.

"Blast," Ace curses. "Of course it wouldn't work."

"What wouldn't work?" Captain Cunningham asks.

"The telescope. I thought I saw people on that planet. Now trying to use it, I can't see them."

"Well, New Zealand did send their country into the stars first. Perhaps they found this planet first. They won't mind us. New Zealanders are quite friendly."

Ace nods, but knows he needs to get a look through the telescope again.

"I could get a mechanic up here if it's a big issue."

"Could they get it to zoom in deeper?"

"Probably. Mechanics are incredibly gifted."

"That'd be great."

"I'll get one up for you."

Sakura jumps when she hears the loudspeaker in her compartment crackle.

"I need a mechanic in the Main Cockpit!"

She sighs. Good grief. What could it possibly be?

"I'll be there stat," Sakura responds.

"Thank you Compartment MEC33." The loudspeaker goes off.

Sakura grabs her tools and goes as fast as she can to the cockpit. When she gets there, she sees a greying man and a young man by a telescope.

"Is this what needs fixing?" Sakura asks.

"Enhancing," Ace corrects.

"Yeah okay. What do you need it to do?"

"Zoom in further with clear definition."

Sakura starts working. The captain goes away to check on other pilots, but Ace stays to watch.

"Who are you?" Ace asks politely.

"I'm a mechanic."

"No, your name."

"Sakura. Yours?"

"Bartholomew De La Cruz, but you can call me Ace."

"That's a mouthful."

"That's what they all say."

Sakura works in silence for a few minutes, then decides to ask Ace some questions.

"Why Ace?"

"I was going to be a pilot, then thought 'what the heck' and signed up as Ace. Everyone calls me that now."

"Not because you're asexual?"

Ace is taken aback for a moment, then laughs.

"No. I must admit, nobody's asked me that before."

Sakura grins, and then puts the new lens in the telescope. "Do you want to test it?"

"Of course!" Ace leans over, and then adds, "By the way, I hope we can be friends."

"Sure thing Pilot-Boy."

Ace smirks at that, and looks into it. His smirk falters.

"Those are not New Zealanders."

"Eh?" Sakura frowns.

"They have red skin, and three eyes. That's not human."

"Let me see." Ace leans back and Sakura goes in. "Oh my gosh."

Deep red skin, three pitch black eyes, amouthstretching halfway around their face, and 8 legs around its waist like a spider.

"Let's hope they're friendly," Ace worriedly says, reaching for his supervisor.

In the green house, Mia is looking after the plants. She looks concerned though, and it's for good reason. Someone came in last night and accidentally spilled radish fertilizer over the courgettes. They're withering away, and this could mean no more courgettes  
unless Mia can fix it. She salvages whatever seeds she can, and sets them up in a far away part of the green house, away from any fertilizers. The door opens, and Hope the new gardener walks in. Hope is Julian's little sister, and she has quite a  
green thumb. In school, she mastered gardening so the school let her skip the science year and go straight to apprenticeship.

"Hi there Mia," Hope softly says.

"Hey there little green thumb! How's it going?"

"Good," Hope whispers.

Mia learns while going through the different plants with Hope that she's very shy. Her outgoing older brother took all the talkative away from her and she was left with very few words. Mia is quite chatty, so Hope is okay with Mia doing all the talking  
for her.

"Any questions?" Mia asks at the end.

"What now?"

"Fertilize rows A-T, I'll do U-AR."

The girls are both content with their jobs, and excited about the new planet.

Nishan is tending to Koh's grandma when Koh storms in.

"Did you hear, grandma? There's an earth like planet!"

"Koh, I'm very tired. I have heard thanks to Nishan here, and it's very exciting isn't it?"

"I want to be the first person on it!" Koh shouts.

"Shh Koh," Nishan says.

"I don't want Max Schwarren, Mr Uppity and Hunk-o-Rama-NOT to be the first one on!" Koh looks livid.

"Koh, please quieten down," Nishan tries to say.

"Koh, if you put in lots of work I don't see why they shouldn't let you be on it first." Koh's grandma smiles at her granddaughter.

"Okay grandma. I'll go and work out."

"Even if you aren't the first on it, I'm very proud of you."

"Thanks." Koh zips out, and Nishan wishes he could have the strong headache relief his patients are on. Koh's a headache, a real headache, but a good headache at heart. She's also his complete opposite. When she was 4, she backflipped off the school balcony  
on the 3rd floor and broke both her legs. Nishan ran outside to help her, only to find she had climbed up the wall onto the balcony again to try again even though there was a bone poking out of her leg. Nishan promptly vomited, and they both were  
in the hospital for a few days.

"I think you need a lie down again," Nishan says to Koh's grandma.

"Fair enough." She laughs. "My granddaughter is a little firecracker!"

Talia and Tariq had a little project they had been working on for a while. With some mechanics and welders, they fused together sixpods to form a very big pod that could fit quite a few people inside. By quite a few, they meant 12. Their best welder  
friend, Beckett, is helping them fit in generators he stole from the kitchens and "underbelly" of the ship. They have one water, one food, a miniature greenhouse, a sewing machine, a medication generator (which took up so much room that they had to  
remove beds 13 and 14), and a shower which ishooked into a smaller water generator.

"Phew! Party central!" Tariq cheers.

"We need to fix the steering so we can have one big console, but other than that let's celebrate!" Talia shouts.

"I think we'd need a mechanic for that. I know a girl," Beckett offers.

"Then bring her in!" Tariq tackles Talia as she says this, and they both laugh.

"So that'd be 4 people who have priority. You, you, me, and the girl." Tariq points out.

"Then we can get 8 super cool people on!"

"Ssh guys." Beckett points to the doorof the mega pod. "This isn't very sound proof. If anyone notices that the 6 pods are actually one big one, they'll flip!"

"True, true," Tariq nods.

"Can you get the mechanic down here pronto?" Talia asks.

"Yup!" And with that, Beckett leaves.

The reason why the twins built it was so that when they got to a planet they could inhabit, they and their friends could fly into space for a while. The pods are solar powered, so rerouting 6 pods' solar panels gave it a lot more power.

"Nice nice Tariq," Talia grins. "Ithink soon we'll be done!"

"Very exciting," Tariq comments.

"Now, which hot girls should we invite onto our lux pod?" Talia laughs and flops onto one of the beds.

"Hmm..." Tariq thinks. "We need more cushions and comforters on our beds."

"And which girls?"

"Payton and Mia for sure. But first we need to make the beds comfy!"

"Okay fine. You make the beds nice, I'll make a list of people."

"Sure thing little sis."

"Hey!"

Chase is making a lot of hospital gowns. In the textiles room, there's been a lot of panic about hospital gowns, and because it's hard to make a good one the job was given to Chase. As he sews, his friend Logan comes in.

"Chase, my man. What's happening?"

"I'm making hospital gowns."

"Sounds... Boring."

"Wow. You're so kind."

"I know. Anyway, apparently new planet has little red people. Kara the pilot told me. The Ace boy found them, and everyone is going cray."

"What?!" Chase looks up at Logan. "Are you joking?"

"Nah bro. Wouldn't do that to you."

"Red?"

"Yeah."

"What?"

"I know. Cray ay eff."

"Okay Mr Rifleman. What do we do then?"

"Hope they're nice, that they won't eat us et sec."

"Okay... What else did you come for?"

Logan smirks at Chase. "Make me some tight pants please. I'm going to go and make some moves on Ellie."

"You don't want tight pants. You want a tight shirt," Chase corrects.

"Whatever. Make. Me. Hot."

"You got it."

"Thanks Chase." Logan blows him a kiss as he walks out.

"Oh my goodness he's such an idiot. Oh well." Chase finishes his gown and then gets ready to make the tight shirt.


	3. Chapter 3

Ship 7170 is only a hundred miles from "Red", the nickname given to the planet by Captain Cunningham.

Max Warren is preparing his exit, wearing his special suit and learning how to measure the atmospheric conditions upon exiting. Chase is with him to help in case the suit tears or needs an alteration. Unfortunately for Chase, he's having to watch Max go in and out of his suit... Naked. Chase can feel himself going redder and redder but Max is oblivious. Logan is slightly more attractive than Max, but not by much.

"Chase, the hoodisn't latching down correctly. Any reason why?"

"Not sure. Can I have a look at it?" Max removes his suit and Chase blushes while fixing a security pad on the hood. "It's a suction pad, but if you tap it twice before you lift back the hood it will unsuction but if you leave it you won't be able to put it back on. Most other hoods use this mechanism."

"Oh okay. Thanks." Max gets into the suit again, and Chase watches him. Max has muscles that are darker than most ("probably a UV bed") and attractive chest hair. Chase can see why a lot of the girls like him.

After a while, Max is all set. "We'll be landing in 76, so I'll be preparing there now. Thanks for your help Chase."

"No problem Max."

Max leaves, and Chase sighs. Soon, they'll break through the atmosphere of "red". Chase goes over to his quiet spot, by the pod launchers. He knows that just in case something goes wrong he can jump into a pod and...

"Ssh Talia. Someone's out there."

"It's probably just Beckett."

"No, I'm in here with you guys."

"Who is it then?!"

Talia, Tariq, and Beckett had jammed two more mattresses into the pods, and had gotten it prepped in case the ship had a malfunction and they needed to evacuate. At least, Beckett is still sure they need to be prepped just in case. He got all his blankets and pillows and welding gear into the pod just in case. Talia and Tariq know it's a legitimate concern, so they are in the pod at all times too.

Chase isn't sure what to do. Let them know he's here? Or stay quiet? He chooses to stay quiet, and he can hear the three teens go back to normal chatter.

\- 50 minutes later -

Payton is glued to her screen. Max, the hunk, is about to make his first steps on the new planet!

The ship had been going ahead of schedule, so Ace had been allowed to start the screening just in case they landed before the scheduled time.

Max is inside the capsule. He's nervous, but he knows what he needs to do. Step out, set up, make the speech, remove his hood. Good. He thinks about Mia, Julian, Payton, and all his family. He thinks about Chase, the shy sewer. How he kept blushing.

Mia isin a pretty dress with her parents at the great hall. Being the sister of the top soldier is a pretty sweet gig. The second top, Koh, is in the hall too. Unlike Mia, Koh is dressed in tight pants and a bulletproof vest. Her grandma told her to be proud of the fact she was second, and she tried, she really did. Unfortunately, second is not Koh's favorite word.

"Landing in 5 minutes!" Ace announces over the loudspeaker. He looks around the windows, and he sees green. Green acres of grass and trees. It's lovely, and he's very excited. Perhaps he could walk through the grass, and go up the trees.

"4!" Nishan is in his compartment, holding his photo of his mum. He looks at her, and wishes she is with him. To calm himself, he put on his mum's jacket, put the photo in his pocket, and went to the pod holding zone. This is where his mum took him when he was a toddler. He can remember her smile, and her brown eyes, and the smell of her perfume. Nishan wants to be with her, he really does.

"3!" Sakura loves the way Nishan walks. It's been... How long? Nishan was her best friend at school. When they started apprenticeships though she struggled to talk with him. That was when he kissed her softly before he ran away and things were never the same. She wondersif he thought of her anymore. Whether he thinksaboutthat kiss. She debates calling out, and decides not to, just to follow.

"2!" Kallie watches Payton talking about Max. Blah blah Max this. Blah blah Max that. Blah blah abs blah blah hair. Isn't Max such a hunk? Isn't Max a hottie? Blah blah blah! Kallie is so over it.

"Can we talk about something else?" Kallie asks Payton.

"Max is going to be on the planet, and then we can have a party!"

"Payton! Please!"

Payton ignores Kallie. For the millionth time, Kallie wishes she could have a new friend. If only she could be strong enough to leave. But then where would she go?

"Don't you think Max is... The hottie superbomb?"

"Come on Kallie," Kallie thinks aloud. "Leave already."

"What was that?" Payton asks.

"Nothing!" Kallie curses herself.

"1 minute until landing!" The cockpit is alive. Ace knows it's nearly time. Maybe after this he can have a lie down while watching a film noir with a hot chocolate. "Concentrate," Ace reminds himself. He's not landing, but he's on comms and evac duty. If they need to evacuate. There's only a 11.3% chance of needing to evacuate.

"30 seconds!" Julian watches Mia from across the room. She looks excited but nervous. As her brother's best friend he needs to be there for her. He walks over briskly, and Mia smiles when she sees him.

"15 seconds!"

"Hey Julian!" Mia stands up and hugs him.

"Hey yourself, Mia." Julian returns the hug and kisses her cheek. Like a friend.

"5!"

"Exciting ay?" Mia grins cheekily, then turns to the big screen.

"4!"

"Quite." Julian smiles back and puts an arm around her while looking at the screen.

"3!"

Max straightens up. No time to look feeble.

"2!"

Payton smooths her hair down while Kallie takes a deep breath in.

"1!"

Ace nearly throws up when the ship hits the ground, but still gets the final announcement out.

"Landed!"

The cheering in the great hall is loud. Julian turns Mia around and kisses her. Mia is surprised, but kisses him back.

Max feels the thump, but still stands. The door opens, and it's like he's in a dream. Green grass, brown dirt, and a purple sky.

He steps out. Set up. He removes the devices from his pockets and focuses on setting them up. He doesn't notice the red figure closing in behind him.

Speech? Helmet? Max can't remember. He starts the speech.

"Ship 7170, I am proud to be the first person on what could be our new world."

Julian breaks away from the kiss. Mia is looking up at the screen, horrified. "Oh no. Look what's behind Max."

Julian goes pale. A disgusting creature covered in red.

"This world is beautiful." Max loses his place in the speech so he stops. Helmet? Yeah. He removes his hood immediately.

Chase, in the pod zone watching a screen, is about to scream. He didn't remove the hood properly! Chase then sees the red thing coming up behind him. Chase knows that _this is it_ for Max. Nope. He is absolutely screwed. Before Chase knows what he's doing, he's screaming.

Nishan and Sakura both hear the scream, and run towards Chase. Talia and Tariq hear it too, and they open the hatch of the pod. As soon as Chase sees the hatch open, he runs and dives into it. Nishan follows suit, followed by Sakura.

Max remembers the helmet thing. Oops. Well, at least he can breathe. That is, before a red gooey limb smacks into his face, blocking off his air supply from his mouth.

The pandemonium in the hall is comparable to the cheering earlier, only louder. Koh sprints to the hospital, thinking only about her grandma. Mia is aware of a piercing scream but isn't aware it's her scream. Julian picks her up bridal style and runs for the pods.

Payton can't stop howling. Kallie is glad Payton has shut up about how hot he is, but when she sees why, she feels guilty. He's dying. His eyes flutter shut, and Kallie remembers the evacuation procedures.

"Payton!" Kallie grabs her friend. "Payton, we need to leave now!"

"Maaaaaaaaaax!"

"Payton!" Kallie slaps her. "Get up! We need to get to a pod!"

Ace is panicking. As he looks atthe evacuation procedures, he knows it's futile. They won't be able to all leave.

"Get thelockdown procedure!" Captain Cunningham yells at him.

Ace reads the lockdown procedure. As he reads, everyone on the ships goes quiet and hides in the lockdown spaces. Except for the teenagers.

Kallie is too busy trying to console Payton that neither of them hear the "lockdown" and instead they head for the pods.

Koh checks on her grandma, but the hospital is in lockdown. Koh goes to the army "barracks", and gets as many weapons as she can carry. She goes to the pods, and hears a scream. She heads towards it, and sees a pod hatch open. Good. She's going in. As she enters, she can see one boy nearly faint at the sight of the guns and flame throwers, and everyone crowded around a blonde who is looking as pale as a sheet. Koh puts the guns on a nearby bed, and goes over.

"You okay?" She asks.

"No," the boy sniffles. He pulls out a handkerchief and Koh nearly laughs but keeps quiet.

"I'm Koh, I'm the top soldier on this ship now, and I'm here to help." Koh knows her grandma would be proud of her now.

"T-thanks Koh."

Julian sees an open pod hatch, and deposits Mia in it.

"Where are you going?" Mia asks Julian worriedly.

"To find my sister Hope." With that, Julian takes off, saying "I'll be back!" as he goes.

Koh looks at the blonde who dropped from the hatch. "Hey there."

"Julian is going to be back soon."

"It's okay, we'll wait." Talia smiles. She knows that that's Max's little sister, and if Talia is nice to her she might be able to meet Max. Also, Mia's cute.

Wes and Shane are sprinting through the ship, and looking for Logan and Hannah. Wes stole a key to a pod a while ago, and he opens it up and gestures for Shane to get inside.

"If I'm not back in 20, fly off." Wes smiles at Shane.

"What about you?"

"I can find another pod if you've left. Worst comes to worst, I'll live on the planet."

"Babe, no." Shane looks at Wes annoyedly, and shakes his head.

"I have to. I'll try and find Lo and Hannah."

"Wes..."

"I love you."

Shane feelsa tear slide from his eye.

"I love you too."

"Look after yourself, okay?"

"Please Wes. Please."

"We'll see each other soon." With that, Wes sneaks off.

Payton and Kallie see the open hatch that Mia went into, and climb in.

"Ohhh boy. There are the ladies!" Tariq looks rather pleased with himself.

"Little bro, calm down." Talia frowns at him.

"Can I not celebrate? We got Payton and Mia!"

"Ahem. I am not a collector's item." Mia frowns at him.

"Okay. Sorry about that Mia. Sorry Payton. And I don't know you," he gestures to Kallie.

"I'm Kallie."

"Lovely to meet you. You look like a real firecracker."

"I'm not really," Kallie says at the same time Payton says "She's shy."

"We'll see about that." Tariq smiles at Kallie, and Kallie's heart feels fit to burst. Her first friend besides Payton!

Julian finds Hope in her compartment, and before Hope can say "we're in lockdown" Julian whisks her out.

Autumn and Ellie are close to the door where Max left from. They don'thave a TV there, so they weren't to know that Max had been killed and that his killer is coming up the lift Max left on.

"I think Max is back," Ellie grins excitedly.

"That's interesting," Autumn frowns. "He wasn't due up for another half hour at least.

"Hmm..." Ellie thinks, but then the elevator dings.

Autumn is sure something is wrong. "Ellie... I think we should run."

Ellie starts walking towards Autumn. "I'm a part time soldier! I can run!"

The door opens, and the red creature slops out. It sees the girls, and Ellie screams "RUN!"

The girls do just that. Sprint. Run. Breathe. After a minute, Autumn is exhausted but Ellie is still able to run.

"Slow down!"

"We can't!"

"Oh no..." Autumn sees the creature come up closer behind her. All of a sudden, Autumn is pulled into a cupboard. Through the one way mirror, Autumn can see the creature run past, not aware Autumn slipped away. Her mysterious puller isvery quiet, and then the door isopened.

"Who are you?" Autumn asksquietly.

"I'm Quinn. I work in security." The dark haired girl smilesat her. "Come. I've got a pod."

The two girls walk down the hall, covered in ared jelly like substance on the floor. They turn into a different corridor, and open a door to the pod bay. Quinn unlocks a pod, then goes inside. Autumn follows, aware of the fact she could be trapped forever. Autumn is claustrophobic.

"There we go." Quinn shuts the door, and Autumn sees a food and water generator in the corner. "Welcome to my apocalypse bunker. I'm going to start flying out now, even though we're on lockdown. It's not safe here."

"Okay..." Autumn whispers.

The wall in front of them opens, and Quinn grins. "There's 3 floors of pods, and this only releases half of one floor. Smart right?" Autumn nods. "I made it."

Ace, after keeping the lockdown announcement on loop, goesto the pod bay that Quinn and Autumn were in. He getsinto his pod, hoping he'd calm down in there. His pod, like Quinn's, hasa food and water generator he put in himself, and a shower. Ace hates being dirty. He also has a double bed with very cushy duvets and lots of pillows. He put a picture of himself and his best friends Calvin and Ryan in there a long time ago, and he looks at the picture now. Ace doesn't notice the lump under his duvet, because the wallstarts to open. Ace swears loudly, and starts his pod. This isn't safe, but falling out of the ship and breaking his pod is even less safe.

Julian returns to Tariq and Talia's pod with Hope. He notices that since he had left, two new guys had arrived. One isCalvin, the ship's trumpet player, and the other is Ryan, an engineer. He lost his hand in an accident last year, so he had a prosthetic.

"Now that you're back, I think it's time to leave. It's not very safe here, and I think we're going to be in trouble staying here." Talia looks at Tariq nervously.

"Yeah, like Talia said. We're going to need to leave. I'm not sure if anyone else is coming, but we'll leave the hatch open for another minute."

Hope whispers to Julian, "I hope my friend Chelsea comes here, because I'm going to miss her if she doesn't come."

"Hey Talia, Tariq. Can you hold off the launch for another ten minutes? I need to find my sister's friend."

"If you're not back in 10, we're leaving."

"Thank you!" Julian races out, and runs to Chelsea's compartment.

Chelsea has had a crush on Hope for ages, but when she seesJulian, Hope's brother, knocking on her door she can't help but wonder if Hope is okay.

Opening the door, she starts to speak but then Julian throws her over his shoulder, grabs the book on her table that looks like a photo album, then sprints back to the pod. Chelsea is too shocked to speak, so she doesn't.

At the nine minute twenty-seven second mark Chelsea is dropped in, followed by Julian. Tariq closes then latches the hatch, and the wall opens. Talia steers it out, and then flies into space beyond. 


End file.
